neither German historians - who were invested in Fritz being the decisive lone eagle who always acts, not reacts - nor British historians (invested in the imagine of a) Prussia starting it all, and b) England always coming out on top in the wars they very reluctanctly get involved in) usually admit this.
I imagine the Austrians also want Fritz to have started it? Though I'm not conversant with Austrian historiography.
I would, too, but given this is Wilhelmine in late 1757 writing to Fritz who already sounds somewhat suicidal, I really don't believe she used sarcasm on that occasion.
Exactly, that's why I find it so hard to wrap my head around that sentence. I can't imagine writing or reading it with a straight face, but I can't imagine Wilhelmine using the kind of sarcasm on Fritz that would be the only possible way I could compose that sentence. I don't care how abject I was trying to be, I would find a different way of phrasing it. But I guess Wilhelmine thought that was what he needed to hear.
if you assume that even if AW submits, Fritz will just repeat this kind of behavior ad infinitum (with AW and others), then it looks differently. Like you said, it was a lose-lose situation.
Definitely. There are pros and cons to any approach, and major cons to all. :(
Re: AW readthrough - Seven Years' War
I imagine the Austrians also want Fritz to have started it? Though I'm not conversant with Austrian historiography.
I would, too, but given this is Wilhelmine in late 1757 writing to Fritz who already sounds somewhat suicidal, I really don't believe she used sarcasm on that occasion.
Exactly, that's why I find it so hard to wrap my head around that sentence. I can't imagine writing or reading it with a straight face, but I can't imagine Wilhelmine using the kind of sarcasm on Fritz that would be the only possible way I could compose that sentence. I don't care how abject I was trying to be, I would find a different way of phrasing it. But I guess Wilhelmine thought that was what he needed to hear.
if you assume that even if AW submits, Fritz will just repeat this kind of behavior ad infinitum (with AW and others), then it looks differently. Like you said, it was a lose-lose situation.
Definitely. There are pros and cons to any approach, and major cons to all. :(